Netherlandish, Utrecht, circa 1500

Georges Hoentschel, Paris;

J. Pierpont Morgan;

By whom lent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1907 and gifted in 1916 (inv. no. 16.32.271);

By whom deaccessioned in 1984;

Christie’s, New York, 13 June 1985, lot 198;

With Kunsthandel Dirven, Belgium;

From whom acquired by a European private collector;

By whom sold, Sotheby's, London, 2 July 2019, lot 36;

Where acquired by the present owner

J. Breck, Catalogue of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance Sculpture, cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1913, pp. 217-218, no. 272

This charming group of Saint Anne, the Virgin, and the Child, surrounded by music-making angels, shows several aspects that firmly place its origin in the Northern Netherlands around the turn of the 16th century. The elaborate curls on both the angels and the Virgin show similarities with the work of Adriaen van Wesel, active in Utrecht at the end of the 15th century. Compare, in particular, to a relief by Van Wesel in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, of Mary, Joseph and Three Angels, which also appears to be thematically similar (inv. no. BK-NM-11647). The faces on the present relief, however, date the relief slightly later: the high foreheads and double chins indicate an influence from the Utrecht Master of the Stone Head, active in the early 16th century. Further comparison can be found in the manner of carving of the curls - compare the hair on the Virgin with that of Christ as Salvator Mundi in Museum Catharijneconvent (inv. no. ABM bh357). 

RELATED LITERATURE

J. Leeuwenberg, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, Museum Catalogue, Amsterdam, 1972, pp. 48-7, cat. nos. 16a; 16b; 38; M. van Vlierden, Hout- en steensculptuur van Museum Catharijneconvent, ca. 1200-1600, Utrecht, 2004, pp. 189-191